tillenterprises Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 I just picked up one of those weird ecard readers for Gameboy Advance (mainly just to get Donkey Kong Jr.), and was thinking how cool it would be to crack the "dot" code system on the cards, and translate old Atari games to the code. The e-cards released by Nintendo are just copies of old NES games, so why not Atari? I would think Activision would jump on that right away- since they have been really into rereleasing old Atari 2600 games as PC and Playstation and the 10 in 1 controller they recently came out with. Anybody think they could do it? Think about it- you could maybe even download and print out the Atari cards from the net, then maybe laminate them for durability. I would think you would probably have to have an Atari emulator along with the ROM. Just a thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdstuff64 Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 If you have a reall,really,and I mean REALLY good computer,you can print off the dot codes and they will work!As for Atari games on the e-reader,that would be sweet!I just got one and think it is cool.I do think that the $40 price is a bit much when you look that there are only 5 games on it now.But the Animal Crossing cards look sweet! PLEASE SOMEBODY PUT ATARI GAMES ON THE E-READER! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berzerk Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 Where do I find info on these e-cards? never heard of them before. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smada Bez Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 http://www.nintendo-e-reader.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cupcakus Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 The e-reader has a built in NES emulator... which allows you to load the NES rom data from the E-Reader. In order to make it work for Atari, the reader would have to be programmed to contain an Atari emulator... Good Luck :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCold Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 If you have a reall,really,and I mean REALLY good computer,you can print off the dot codes and they will work! This sounds like this may be the newest "fad" in piracy, although I do think it's very kewl you can print them. Would it be possible to do this with a rom that nintendo never even made into the e-card things? Like if I wanted to play some hack of a nintendo game, and I have the rom, could I print out a certain code and be able to play it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidbrit2 Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 I was pondering the possibility of printing out my own cards. But this was before I actually got the reader and took a good look at the cards. The dot strips are printed with unbelievably high resolution. There's no way in hell that any inkjet printer would be able to produce results that the reader could interpret. You would probably need a several thousand dollar laser printer, or some other design equipment to make your own cards. Not that it isn't possible to do; it would just likely be very expensive. (Please prove me wrong on all of this, because I would love to print out home brew cards!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCold Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 There's gotta be somebody out there with an expensive printer that wouldn't mind printing some people out some cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackmann Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 IIRC the cards are printed using magnetic ink, so you'd need a laser printer with a special toner cartridge used for printing checks. Also, I remember hearing the resolution being in the neighborhood of thousands of DPI, so forget using a consumer printer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari-Jess Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 There's gotta be somebody out there with an expensive printer that wouldn't mind printing some people out some cards. awww cmon the cards are cheap!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCold Posted October 6, 2002 Share Posted October 6, 2002 I don't even have a GBA, so I didnt' mean for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
san-d-2000 Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 I do think that the $40 price is a bit much when you look that there are only 5 games on it now. I agree, I bought a 68 in 1 cartridge in HongKong, which has one GBA game and 67 NES games on it, I paid $10 for it. - San Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumpbucket Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 I agree, I bought a 68 in 1 cartridge in HongKong, which has one GBA game and 67 NES games on it, I paid $10 for it. Yes, but that $10 doesn't include any license fees for the copyright owners, etc. etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmileyDude Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 I do think that the $40 price is a bit much when you look that there are only 5 games on it now. Well, for $40 your not just getting the 5 games -- you're getting the ability to play other e-reader games as well. I'm gonna buy an e-reader myself soon -- I've already bought of a couple of the games, because if anything is gonna be limited, it will be the games. The cards are very nice -- not as convenient as having a cart with a game on it, but since it's 1/6th of the regular price of a GBA game, you can't really complain about it. As far as data storage goes, the long side of the card stores 2.2k, and the short side 1.1k -- that means you can get 6.6k on a single card. Since the majority of 2600 games are 2k and 4k, you could easily put together a collection of 2600 games for this. Infact, you could have a starter set with the emulator cards, and a set of 5 2600 games. The emulator could handle scanning in the 2600 games, and then you could just keep the emulator in the e-reader memory all the time. Then, you could have packs of cards that you buy, sorta like baseball cards, where you don't know what game you will get. I would love to see something like this I wonder if they would purposely print more Combat and ET cards if they did this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raijin Z Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 I've taken a look at the ecards... Yeah, the dots for the code are the same size as the printing dots. You'd need to scan them at absurdly high resolution, while filtering out the printing mess, and then print them back out on a laser printer. Or just buy an NES and the real games. They cost less anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy_Dude Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 Raijin Z wrote Or just buy an NES and the real games. They cost less anyway but the challenge... and if you dont have a NES theres something wrong with you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raijin Z Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 I know where I can get Final Fantasy... I got Megaman 2 last week. Man, at Goodwill, NES games are $1.50 or less, and half that on the last Friday of the month. The pawn shop I get most of my games at charges $5 for each NES game, and they have MANY. Good ones, too. Oh, the financial burden.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy_Dude Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 I know a place where i can get BRAND NEW NES and SNES games for $10 each. But its in the middel of nowhere they must have a warehouse full cause there always stocked. I also picked up an atari vader case there. You know the one, big black thing with 12 cart slots, space for paddels and joysticks with Atari stamped on the front. it came with heaps of games and 3 atari jr.s (no vader though ) My woody atari currently resides there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raijin Z Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 Yet I haven't a single Atari. Jawsome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeftrevino Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 I got the e-reader when it came out and I think it's worth while. Yeah I do own a NES yet i don't own some of the games that the e-reader has. even if I did own those games I'd still have purchased it. the GBA is about protability and playing games where ever you are. not sitting at home geeking in front of the ol' NES. this product has potential so i'm going to show I like it and see its future by buying it's products. even if this is another R.O.B. the robot, then the future collectability is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hackmann Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 As far as data storage goes, the long side of the card stores 2.2k, and the short side 1.1k -- that means you can get 6.6k on a single card. Since the majority of 2600 games are 2k and 4k, you could easily put together a collection of 2600 games for this. Except you'd have to worry about getting the emulator loaded. (The e-Reader has an embedded NES emulator built into the hardware, which is why the NES games fit on one or two cards.) As a means of comparison, z26 (which is written in a mix of x86 assembly and C) is a hair under 130K. Even if somebody could cut that in half (which would be a pretty impressive feat) for the GBA by writing in 100% assembly and taking advantage of the uniform hardware, you're still talking about 20+ cards just for the emulator. That's even before worrying about how to get the e-Reader to run arbitrary code (something Nintendo probably planned on making very, very difficult), or even just trying to get the damn cards printed. The GBA's certainly up to the task of emulating the 2600, but the e-Reader ain't the way to do it. Probably nothing short of the ol'-fashioned flash cart kit will do the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raijin Z Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 It would probably take a poker deck to load Kirby... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquid_sky Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 It would probably take a poker deck to load Kirby... with 2 sweeps per card probally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy_Dude Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 SmileyDude wrote: As far as data storage goes, the long side of the card stores 2.2k, and the short side 1.1k -- that means you can get 6.6k on a single card 6.6k How would you fit a NES game on that? the smallest nes games i have are 40k! mikeftrevino wrote: the GBA is about protability and playing games where ever you are. not sitting at home geeking in front of the ol' NES I dont think Raijin Z was attacking the gba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeftrevino Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 I dont think Raijin Z was attacking the gba. I'm sorry I was up late that night. just as i am tonight. I was not pointing out anyone, but mainly touting the the advantages of the e-reader over the NES in portability. please forgive any offense I may have caused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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